Impediment

bottleneck A narrow passage; an impasse; congestion or constriction; a traffic jam. The reference is to the thin, narrow neck of a bottle, which is necessarily constrictive. By extension, the word is used for any point at which passage or flow becomes impeded because the volume of a larger area must move into a smaller. The equivalent French term is embouteillage. The word appeared in print by 1907 in the Westminster Gazette.

choke-pear Something difficult or impossible to “swallow”; something “hard to take”; a difficulty. The figurative sense of this term is an extension of its literal meaning, i.e., a variety of pear with a harsh, bitter taste. Samuel Collins used the expression in Epphata to F.T. (1617):

S. Austens testimony … is a choke-pear that you cannot swallow.

The term has been used literally since 1530 and figuratively since 1573.

cooling card Anything that diminishes or lessens a person’s ardor or enthusiasm; a damper. According to the OED, cooling card is apparently a term of some unknown game and is used figuratively or punningly with the meaning above. This expression, now obsolete, dates from 1577. In Henry Dircks’ Life the Marquis of Worcester is quoted as using it thus in 1664:

It would … prove a cooling card to many, whose zeal otherwise would transport them.

fly in the ointment A triviality which ruins an otherwise enjoyable occasion; a negative element or consideration. The Biblical origin of this expression appears in Ecclesiastes (10:1):

Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour.

In modern usage, the phrase implies minor inconvenience or un timeliness:

The present situation is not without its ‘fly in the ointment’ for those motorists who have patriotically lent the assistance of their cars to the military authorities. (Scotsman, September, 1914)

a lump in the throat A choked-up or tight feeling in the throat at times of deep emotion. A person usually gets a lump in his throat when he is very touched and on the verge of tears—either from happiness or from sadness. A literal lump in the throat would inhibit speech and swallowing. The figurative expression has been in use since the latter half of the 19th century.

A lump always comes into my throat when I think of it. (Princess Alice, Biographical Sketch and Letters, 1878)

The similar expression have the words stick in one’s throat implies an inability to express one-self due to intense emotion.

skeleton at the feast A source of gloom or sadness at an otherwise festive occasion; a wet blanket, a party pooper; something that acts as a reminder that life holds sorrow as well as joy. According to the Moralia, a collection of essays by Plutarch (A.D. circa 46-120), the Egyptians always placed a skeleton at their banquet tables to remind the revelers of their mortality.

The skeleton of ennui sat at these dreary feasts; and it was not even crowned with roses. (George Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, 1857)

It was also common practice for many monastic orders to place a skull or death’s head on the refectory table to remind those present of their mortality.

there’s the rub Said of an impediment, hindrance, or stumbling-block, especially one of an abstract nature; the crux of a problem. In this expression, rub alludes to the rubbing of a spoon inside a mixing bowl, an occurrence which interferes with smooth stirring. Although rub in this sense had been in use for some time before Shakespeare, he popularized the phrase by incorporating it into Hamlet’s famous soliloquy:

To be, or not to be: that is the question …To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub. (III, i)

A variation is here lies the rub.

third wheel See EXTRANEOUSNESS.

wet blanket A discouraging or dampening influence on others’ enjoyment of a party or similar pleasurable occasion; a person who is habitually grouchy or depressed; a kill-joy, party pooper, spoilsport. Literally, a wet blanket is one that has been soaked in water and is used to smother or quench a fire. The figurative implications are obvious.

Sometimes he called her a wet blanket, when she thus dampened his ardor. (Margaret Oliphant, Annals of a Publishing House, 1897)

diriment impediment - (canon law) an impediment that invalidates a marriage (such as the existence of a prior marriage)

drag - something that slows or delays progress; "taxation is a drag on the economy"; "too many laws are a drag on the use of new land"

obstacle, obstruction - something immaterial that stands in the way and must be circumvented or surmounted; "lack of imagination is an obstacle to one's advancement"; "the poverty of a district is an obstacle to good education"; "the filibuster was a major obstruction to the success of their plan"

straitjacket - anything immaterial that severely hinders or confines; "they defected because Russian dance was in a straitjacket"; "the government is operating in an economic straitjacket"

obstacle - an obstruction that stands in the way (and must be removed or surmounted or circumvented)

structure, construction - a thing constructed; a complex entity constructed of many parts; "the structure consisted of a series of arches"; "she wore her hair in an amazing construction of whirls and ribbons"

tumbler - a movable obstruction in a lock that must be adjusted to a given position (as by a key) before the bolt can be thrown

From the narrowness of the gorge, and the steepness of its sides, there was no mode of advancing but by wading through the water; stumbling every moment over the impediments which lay hidden under its surface, or tripping against the huge roots of trees.

In all those years it had never once been opened; but either she unlocked it or the decaying wood and iron yielded to her hand, or she glided shadow-like through these impediments -- and, at all events, went in.

When on the march, he always lagged behind the rest, leaving to them the task of breaking a way through all difficulties and impediments, and leisurely and lazily jogging along the track, which they had beaten through the snow.

I require and charge you both (as ye will answer at the dreadful day of judgment, when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed), that if either of you know any impediment why ye may not lawfully be joined together in matrimony, ye do now confess it; for be ye well assured that so many as are coupled together otherwise than God's Word doth allow, are not joined together by God, neither is their matrimony lawful.

Some parts were more, and others were less easy, but we were not once brought to a halt by any serious impediment, for when an obstruction was met in front it could always be turned to the right or to the left.

Though with your usual anxiety for our happiness," said Elinor, "you have been obviating every impediment to the present scheme which occurred to you, there is still one objection which, in my opinion, cannot be so easily removed.

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